Persis-Index Traverse

Finally the gate on FS-62 is unlocked...  Last section of FS6220 is pretty tough - high clearance only!  Departed cars around 0830, trail to Persis is steep, tough but in reasonable shape.  From the ponds at the base of Persis, descend the boulder fields following eratic cairns to the west side of the ridge, and traverse a couple miles over brush and timber to base of gully up to small pond at the headwaters of Proctor Creek.  From there, the right hand gully leads to the Persindex Ponds, where we made a really nice camp on the rocks.  

The route from camp to the Persis/Index col basically follows the ridge line, with a climber's trail sometimes dropping a little off either side. A grungy gully that apparently some parties have rappelled or down climbed on a fixed line gets you down to the col. 

From there, the West ridge of Index is pretty straightforward, with a scramble up rocks to the left of the ridge bringing you to the summit slopes.

We took scramble ropes and some climbing hardware, but used neither.  Could be done as a high-grade scramble, but we chose to do it as a basic alpine climb due to the commitment.

Times: a pretty lazy 7hrs to camp from the cars. 2.5hrs to summit from camp leaving at 0600 and returning to camp at 1130.  Camp to cars around 5hrs.